Lawsuit claims iPhone infringes call display patent

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 50
    This guy's name is really FIGA? Honestly? Does anyone else here know what that means in Italian?
  • Reply 22 of 50
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    Don't all phones do that?



    They do now. I don't believe they did in 1990. This patent might actually be valid (I just don't remember when this technology was introduced).
  • Reply 23 of 50
    So... This guy patented "looking up something in a database and displaying it"???
  • Reply 24 of 50
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    Another greedy person trying to squeeze some bucks out.



    I though patents expire 20 years from application date (14 years for designs)! Please correct me if I am wrong.



    Close. See below



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FlashmanBurgess View Post


    So is this guy gonna sue every cordless phone manufacturer too since my last 10 home phones have had caller ID and display the name of the caller of an inbound call? Where do people come up with this crap? I wish I had a nickel for every company that sued Apple. I'd be rich by now.



    The fact that this was common today is irrelevant. Was it being done in 1988 when he filed the patent? I don't think so.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cubert View Post


    Hahahaha!!! So, this guy is suing Apple for having the incoming call phone number displayed on the phone?!?!?!



    Where has he been for the last decade!!??



    Who cares? He filed the patent in 1988. What does the past decade have to do with it?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by flydoggie View Post


    Correct. 20 years from the filing date, which in this case was May 1988 so the patent expires in a few months. In addition, a patent can be dated to before the filing date in certain circumstances so it may already be ineffective, but any infringement when the patent was valid is actionable.



    That is true today, but the patent system changed during the 1990s. It USED to be 17 years from the date the patent was issued - which means it would have expired last year. He can still sue for infringement that occurred during the patent term, but he has to file before the statute of limitations has expired (I don't know what that is for patent cases).



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cavallo View Post


    This guy's name is really FIGA? Honestly? Does anyone else here know what that means in Italian?



    There doesn't appear to be a direct translation on the translation sites I checked.
  • Reply 25 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    There doesn't appear to be a direct translation on the translation sites I checked.



    Perhaps because it's fairly blunt slang. In fact, it rhymes with blunt.
  • Reply 26 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by suhail View Post


    This is not a Caller ID feature which receives the caller's name and number from the phone company, this patent uses only the number from an incoming call and compares it with the phone's database to bring-up the name of the caller. It's not really a Caller-ID. Furthermore, and unlike Apple, other phone-companies who used his patent, probably returned his calls and paid the royalty fees.



    Ha ha! Good one. Every cell phone and every cordless phone does this. They take the number, look it up in their built-in phonebook, and use the name if there is a match. Do you think every phone vendor is paying this guy?
  • Reply 27 of 50
    msnlymsnly Posts: 378member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    The fact that this was common today is irrelevant. Was it being done in 1988 when he filed the patent? I don't think so.



    There doesn't appear to be a direct translation on the translation sites I checked.



    I think they mean: why hasn't he sued everybody else that has used it?



    and I found Figa as meaning:



    to be cool, sexy
  • Reply 28 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    and I found Figa as meaning:



    to be cool, sexy



    That's actually the common usage. Like we use 'cool' to describe something good, and not necessarily cold. Figa, in Italian is vulgar slang for female gentialia, but is used the way we would use 'cool.' I guess that's an interesting insight into the Italian psyche...
  • Reply 29 of 50
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    So, if I want to make something as simple as a called ID I have to pay someone setting on his butt for the last 20 years? and if it is not a hit product then I have to take the whole lose alone?



    The courts should also force the patent holders to share losses manufacturers suffer when using their ideas, may be then we won't see them filling lawsuit. But this won't happen I guess.
  • Reply 30 of 50
    You know what, i patent the motion of resting the body on the bed, a.k.a known as sleep. So if you dont want to get sued by me, you guys better not sleep!!!



    ahhahaahhaha
  • Reply 31 of 50
    i also like to patent the act of showering, you guys better not shower either!!!
  • Reply 32 of 50
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jimd View Post


    So... This guy patented "looking up something in a database and displaying it"???



    Exactly.



    It seems that ever day I'm reminded of how screwed up our patent system is. Unfortunately, it is now accomplishing the exact opposite of the intended goal. Patents are stifling innovation, not fostering it. For every non-obvious concept for which patents would seem reasonable, there are a 100 patents on obvious concepts.



    Unless the patent system is fixed, I would actually be in favor of abolishing it altogether. While patents can be a net good for our economy and society, they aren't working out that way in the here and now.
  • Reply 33 of 50
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    The courts should also force the patent holders to share losses manufacturers suffer when using their ideas, may be then we won't see them filling lawsuit.



    I don't know where you get this bizarre kind of idea.
  • Reply 34 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A new Massachusetts complaint accuses Apple of violating a patent for a basic call display system.

    The five-page complaint by Romek Figa, who does business in the eastern US state as Abraham & Son, claims that "certain Apple telephones" use technology at the heart of a 1990 patent that describes a system which displays both the phone number of an inbound call. The technique matches up phone numbers with a contact list stored on the phone, allowing the device to associate a name with any incoming calls.



    ok - gottah love those who wannah feed on successfull companies - typical - apple gets an awesome product, and someone come's w/ a lawsuit.
  • Reply 35 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ros3ntan View Post


    You know what, i patent the motion of resting the body on the bed, a.k.a known as sleep. So if you dont want to get sued by me, you guys better not sleep!!!



    ahhahaahhaha



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ros3ntan View Post


    i also like to patent the act of showering, you guys better not shower either!!!



    I just patented the act of making dumb jokes. Pay up people.
  • Reply 36 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emoeric87 View Post


    I just patented the act of making dumb jokes. Pay up people.



    Yeah? Well I just patented female genitalia. Now who's Figa?
  • Reply 37 of 50
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    I think they mean: why hasn't he sued everybody else that has used it?



    How do you know he HASN'T licensed everyone else out there?
  • Reply 38 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by suhail View Post


    This is not a Caller ID feature which receives the caller's name and number from the phone company, this patent uses only the number from an incoming call and compares it with the phone's database to bring-up the name of the caller. It's not really a Caller-ID. Furthermore, and unlike Apple, other phone-companies who used his patent, probably returned his calls and paid the royalty fees.



    As mentioned before, Apple's assumed high profit margin of 50% on the iPhone (before the price drop) is not the actual profit margin, iPhone lawsuits will continue to pop-up in the future. Some companies will wait until the 'damage' is too great, some will settle, others will be dismissed.



    The screwed-up patent office needs a SMACK across the head.



    Ok, so he won't be suing cordless phone companies over this. However, he'll be suing Microsoft (since they own the makers of the Sidekick and software for phones), Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Kyocera, HTC, and many many others since that's how caller ID on cell phones works.



    Can we say snowball's chance in an industrial fire?
  • Reply 39 of 50
    Yeah, I think it might be too late in the ballgame to start suing people. If he knew these guys were doing this, he should have spoke up sooner, imho.
  • Reply 40 of 50
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by QckSlvrGuyInKC View Post


    Ok, so he won't be suing cordless phone companies over this. However, he'll be suing Microsoft (since they own the makers of the Sidekick and software for phones), Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Kyocera, HTC, and many many others since that's how caller ID on cell phones works.



    Can we say snowball's chance in an industrial fire?



    I don't think it's that clear cut. You're trying to evaluate his patent on the basis of the current state of the market. All he has to show is that in 1988 when he filed that this was novel. I can't say one way or the other, but that doesn't strike me as an absurd claim.



    He WILL be faced with the issue of not taking action promptly, so the awards may end up reduced dramatically because of his inaction, but at first glance, there's a chance that this patent will (and should) be found valid.
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